Shadows
by Xx.LoveIsABlessing.xX
Summary: #75 in the 100 Themes Challenge. Goes with #74


**#75 : Shadows**

_Midnight, September 8, 1878_

Ty groaned and swatted at something that rubbed softly against his side. It tickled, and he didn't like being tickled.

Beside him, his young wife bit back a giggle and reached for his side again, gently scratching her nails over his tanned skin. He swatted again, still fighting to stay asleep, and she bit her lower lip to stay silent.

It had been three months now since she and Ty had run away from her home in Virginia to live in Georgia at the home of Aunt Liza, as the woman had demanded that she and Ty call her. She had put on a wedding for them two days after they'd gotten there.

"Ames, cut it out." Ty muttered, his eyes never opening and his voice thick with sleep and fatigue as he turned to lay on his back, one arm landing beside his head and unintentionally leaving him vulnerable to his mischievous wife.

Not one to be swayed off of her plans, Amy reached for his side again and this time he laughed quietly in his sleep, a grin coming to his face. He sleepily cracked open his eyes and laughed again.

"Okay, okay," His voice slurring with sleep, "I'm awake. What?"

"I can finally feel it!" Amy said excitedly.

Ty frowned at her, in reality only half awake, "Feel what?" He yawned widely.

"The bump that the baby makes as it grows!" Amy said, grabbing his hand and jerking it to her belly. He frowned at her sleepily.

"Love, we should both be asleep." He whispered to her.

"I'll go to sleep once you look!" Amy told him impatiently and pulled up the skirt of her night gown, intent on seeing her stomach. Ty chuckled at her.

"Amy, darling, just relax. We can look in the morning, I promise. It's too dark now to see anything." Ty whispered to her, reaching over and taking her hand. She shook her head and grabbed his hand, placing it onto her stomach. Sure enough, when she dragged his hand to the side he felt the small bump that was starting to form in her stomach.

"See? Our baby is getting bigger!" Amy said excitedly.

Ty grinned at her, "I know. I love you."

"I love you more." Amy whispered and pulled him close, pressing her lips to his eagerly. He let his hand rest on the exposed skin of her lower back, her skirts still pulled up to show her stomach.

"Now go on to sleep, okay? Tomorrow we'll look at the bump, okay?" Ty whispered as he tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. She sighed, nodding reluctantly. She snuggled into his side and laid her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her and she laid her hand on his stomach. He rested his free hand on her hand over his stomach, pressing a kiss to her hair.

Soon, they'd drifted off to sleep, a cloud drifting over the moon to cast a shadow over the sleeping couple.

_**#75S**_

"Why are you yawning so much today?"

Ty looked up from the bridle he'd been cleaning to look into the curious blue eyes of his friend, Ben Stillman, the young man that Amy's friend Tara had run away with to Georgia to marry.

Much like Ty, Ben had been Tara's family's best stable hand and their wealthy daughter had fallen for him just like Amy had fallen for Ty. Currently, Tara was six months pregnant with their first child.

"Amy discovered that she has a baby bump last night, and so I had to wake up and see it." Ty said with a grin.

Ben laughed, "Tara was the same way. She was so excited, she just had to show me."

"I guess it's what we asked for, falling for two very headstrong young women like we did." Ty said, chuckling as he cleaned the bit on the bridle. He soon had it gleaming in his skilled hands.

Ben leaned his shoulder against the doorframe of the tack room, "You realize what they are in the house doing right now, don't you?"

Ty glanced up again, "No? Care to let me in on the secret?"

"They're setting up for a party they plan on having." Ben said.

Ty grimaced, "A party?"

"And I suggest that the two of us hide soon. I think I see our lovely young wives coming to find us." Ben said warily as he glanced out of a window. Right on time, the two young women called for their husbands.

"Ty!"

"Ben!"

"Time to hide." Ben said, taking the bridle from Ty and hanging it on its peg quickly.

"Where?" Ty asked, glancing almost fearfully over his shoulder. He hated parties, and really didn't want to be dragged to one.

"This way." Ben said, leading Ty out of the room and quickly down the barn aisle. They found a door at the back of the stable and slipped outside, moving quickly to hide in the shadows of the trees. They both ducked down behind some tall bushes and waited anxiously, praying that their wives wouldn't find them.

A few minutes passed before they heard the girls looking around the stable.

"Where could they be? I know they were out at the stable this morning." Amy was saying to Tara.

Tara sighed, shaking her head and putting her hands on her hips, "Knowing my husband he figured out we were planning a party and grabbed Ty and hid. They're around here somewhere."

"Where would they hide?" Amy asked, turning to look around the grounds, her eyes narrowing as she wondered where the two could be.

"I think I have an idea." Tara said, her eyes looking towards the trees.

Ben and Ty swallowed and exchanged glances, hoping that her hunch was wrong. Soon, they heard her calling for them.

"Ben! Ty! Come out you two!" Tara called out.

Ty frowned, wondering why Amy had stopped calling for him. He looked to Ben warily and the other met his eyes evenly. They both felt that something wasn't right about this.

"Ty, Amy wants you to come out right now! Ben, you had better get out here right now!" Tara called out again.

Ty and Ben closed their eyes and swallowed, staying hunkered down to hide their forms in the leaves and brush.

"Ah-ha! I found you!"

Both young men looked up in shock to see Amy grinning at them. She and Tara had tricked them, and now they were busted. Tara appeared by Amy's side.

"Alright you two, come on and go wash up. We're going to have fun tonight and you two are going to be a part of it!" Tara told them sternly.

Ben and Ty both groaned as they forced themselves to their feet and their wives grabbed their arms, leading them back to the house and to the party set up that neither wanted anything to do with. Ty huffed indignantly and turned to Ben.

"Next time I choose the hiding place."

**END**


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